This was the declaration by Australia’s Foreign Minister Julie Bishop in an interview this morning on the 9News network, on the arrest and investigation into the actions of the nine men who had stripped down to their underwear, which bore a Jalur Gemilang print, at the Malaysian F1 Grand Prix in Sepang on Sunday.
“The Australian government can provide consular support but as I constantly remind people, we can’t bail you out if you get into trouble with the laws of another country.
“We can’t interfere with the legal proceedings of another country any more than a foreign government could interfere in our legal proceedings,” she told the TODAY Show, a morning talk show on the network, today.
She added that the “stunt” by the nine Aussies, in celebrating their fellow countryman Daniel Ricciardo’s win at the Sepang F1 GP, may have been a harmless prank in Australia but it “could be seen very differently in other cultures.”
“I don’t know that it will be seen as a lapse of judgment. It was clearly premeditated. They were wearing the ‘budgy smugglers’ and had bought them in Australia,” the minister said, referring to the brand of the particular type of underwear marketed Down Under.
She also ruled out any possibility that the Australian government will do more than give support from the Australian High Commission in Kuala Lumpur on the nine men’s predicament.
“These are young men who are facing the Malaysian legal system and I do point out that at any one time we are supporting about 1,300 Australians, who are under arrest and about 350 who can be in jail overseas, so we do provide a lot of consular support but the Australian government cannot bail you out of these circumstances.”
Asked if she knew one of the men, named Jack Walker, who was identified as an adviser to Christopher Pyne, Australia’s Minister for Defence Industry, Bishop said she believed she had met Walker previously, but did not remember the encounter.
Also weighing in on the case was Australia’s Deputy Prime Minister Barnaby Joyce who said it was not appropriate behaviour to “drop your strides”, no matter which country you’re in.
“I’m hoping the Malaysians will understand there wasn’t any real malice in it. Stupidity, obviously. Malice, no,” he told 9News.
Meanwhile, the network also quoted Sepang Asst Commissioner of Police, Abdul Aziz Ali as saying that the allegedly drunk men were “caught in the act” and that police have sufficient evidence to prosecute them.
“I think there will be no problem in charging them. All the evidence is in the recordings … they were caught in the act,” Ali said
The men are expected to face charges under Section 504 of the Penal Code for “intentional insult with intent to provoke a breach of the peace” and Section 14 of the Minor Offences Act for insulting behaviour, in court tomorrow.